


there and back again

by rosielibrary



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Fluff, Swooning Over Stans: A Grunkle Dating Simulator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 00:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16843324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosielibrary/pseuds/rosielibrary
Summary: Stan smirks up at you from the photograph, in the foreground of a beautiful ocean holding a small boat. The sunset light glints off his gold chain and you catch a peek of chest hair from between the wide open V of his blue and white shirt. Your stomach starts running, flips three somersaults, and sticks the landing.You miss him already.





	there and back again

Gas stations in the middle of nowhere are always pretty dingy, but you’re fairly certain this one wins the world record for Grossest Gas Station in America. By a large margin.

You pull up to an off-yellow pump and turn the car off, hopping out and _streeeetching_ after an hour and a half of driving, standing on your tip-toes and cracking your back. Driving’s fun ’n all, but you start to hunch after thirty minutes and oof it’s not good. You know you’re gonna be sore by the time you reach your destination — wherever that ends up being. You’ve not decided yet.

Card swipes in and out and you’re pumping gas, tapping away on your phone in the middle of Wherever-The-Hell, USA, but you’re not focusing on your text. You’re thinking about the absolutely wild few weeks you just had in a similarly backwater town… though now, of course, Gravity Falls holds more near and dear to your heart than… you squint.

Nehalem. Population 271. … You’ve seen weirder now, you suppose.

The number dials up on the gas pump and you stop, pocket your phone, and fling open your trunk— Mabel’s present, small, ribbon-filled, and sitting atop your suitcase, tempts you as you wait for your tank to fill. You promised Dipper you’d wait til you got to a rest stop to open it… but gas stations are technically rest stops, right? Right. Sure.

It takes you a good few minutes to decode the puzzle of bows and colorful tape but you eventually find a small, perfectly cubed box underneath, decorated with puffy cat stickers and glitter glue, and you unfold the top to peer inside.

It’s small, as you expected, but the second you pull out the Mr. Mystery bobblehead you start giggling. You have a feeling Mabel snuck that one under Stan’s nose. Though alongside the mug sweater and sprinkles of glitter you find a white piece of paper, surprisingly bare in comparison to the rest of the gift—

Oh, never mind. This is your favorite part.

Stan smirks up at you from the photograph, in the foreground of a beautiful ocean holding a small boat. The sunset light glints off his gold chain and you catch a peek of chest hair from between the wide open V of his blue and white shirt. Your stomach starts running, flips three somersaults, and sticks the landing.

You miss him already.

It’s honestly ridiculous how close you two got over the course of what felt like hours but lasted several weeks (you kinda lost count, what with the goat weddings and running from police and those cupcakes Mabel made that set your tongue ablaze). You only left an hour ago and yet… you want to go back. Like, now.

The gas pump _thunks_ to tell that your tank is full, but you’re already mapping out the quickest way back to that tourist trap you saw signs for on your way here.

— — — — —

Everyone’s inside when you pull up to the Shack, thankfully. You turn off the ignition as quietly as you can and sneak past the window to the front door, lift your knuckles to rap against—

But it swings open and Stan meets you in the doorway, quirked brow, knowing grin, hands in his pockets. Busted.

“You forget somethin’?”

He knows damn well you didn’t forget anything.

“I, uh…”

Now you can be honest and say you missed him, forge something about your car being broken again, or try and win him over with a really, really terrible pick-up line.

“Yeah, I did forget something. My heart. Because you stole it.”

Cue the double finger-guns and a cheesy wink. Nailed it.

Stan stares at you for a long moment, but then bursts out laughing and scoops you up in a hug, whirling you around in a circle on the porch. You catch a glimpse of a shocked Dipper and an elated Mabel before he puts you down on the ground, still holding on tight.

“I missed you too, kid.”


End file.
